It seems everything’s coming up Doechii. The performer struck a nerve with her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal, which showcased her undeniable talent on tracks like “BOOM BAP” and “NISSAN ALTIMA,” when it dropped this past August. Then she took her show on the road for the Alligator Bites Never Heal Tour, which sold out in several cities across the US and Europe. Oh, and did we mention that she’s now GRAMMY-nominated four times over (including a nod in the highly competitive Best New Artist category)? Now that the masses have stopped sleeping on her talent, she’s showing off with appearances on both NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
For her Tiny Desk debut, Doechii compiled a set filled mostly with tracks from her mixtape. However, she took them to another level thanks to her backing band, who wove in elements of jazz, gospel and rock into her jams. She kicked things off with a jazzy rendition of “BOOM BAP” that segued into “BOILED PEANUTS” and then her viral cut “DENIAL IS A RIVER.”
The energy shifted as the set got more aggressive with “CATFISH,” “NISSAN ALTIMA” and “BULLFROG.” The section was underscored with a grumbly electric guitar that only briefly let up for an unexpected praise break at the end of “NISSAN.” The switch-up and then slide right back into the gritty “BULLFROG” and then sliding back to jazz for “HIDE N SEEK” exemplified the refreshing consideration and craft Doechii put into each moment. The singer then took it back to her indie release Oh The Places You’ll Go with a touching performance of “Black Girl Memoir” dedicated to “all the beautiful Black women in the room.” The uplifting track, which combines both her rap and singing skills, tapped into why her art has resonated with her audience and was a fitting close to a phenomenal set.
She also brought the same level of creativity on The Late Show for a medley of “BOILED PEANUTS” and “DENIAL IS A RIVER.” This time she wove elements of jazz along with spoken word into the mix. There was also an added performance element that included bits of modern dance and she and her dancers wearing carbon copy Gucci fits. The pièce de résistance, however, was the fact that each lady was connected to the other by long cornrows braided together seamlessly.
We don’t know what’s going on in the swamp that Doechii hails from, but it has birthed one of the most innovative artists of modern times. Let the Swamp Princess wow you several times over when you watch both her Tiny Desk Concert and her performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert below.
